The use of progressive jackpots in casino games is well known in the art. Wagering games employing progressive jackpots conventionally include an amount of money to be won if a predetermined event or condition to trigger a payout from a progressive jackpot occurs in a wagering game. The amount of money to be won is traditionally displayed on an incrementing jackpot meter or display. The predetermined event or condition may be time-based, game-based, randomly determined or otherwise. For each wagering game (e.g., at the beginning or end of the wagering game, for each round of the wagering game played, etc.) a portion of the wager may be added to the progressive jackpot. This wager is typically an optional side bet wager that is fixed in amount and is made on an electronic coin spot sensor. As a result, the amount of money to be won with the progressive jackpot may increase for each wagering game played. The increases may be shown on the jackpot meter or display.
Multiple gaming stations of the same type (e.g., multiple gaming tables, multiple slot machines, etc.) that offer the same wagering game are sometimes linked to a common progressive jackpot. The common progressive jackpot may cause the amount of money to be won with the progressive jackpot to increase more quickly, which may result in higher progressive jackpots depending upon the probability of occurrence of a jackpot trigger. Higher progressive jackpots may add appeal to a wagering game, and may result in more wagering games played, or rounds of wagering games played.
Operating a progressive jackpot system including multiple gaming stations that are all configured to administer the same wagering game may be relatively simple because the probability of the jackpot trigger at each of the gaming stations is the same. For example, multiple blackjack tables may each be linked to the same progressive jackpot, and each contributes a portion of its side bets to the same progressive jackpot. A player at any of the blackjack tables may win the progressive jackpot responsive to achieving a jackpot trigger such as a premium hand (such as five (5) Ace of Spades, for example) at their blackjack table.
Linking multiple gaming stations that host different wagering games may further accelerate an increase in the progressive jackpot in a given amount of time. Some conventional progressive jackpot systems link multiple gaming stations that are configured to host different wagering games with different probabilities of jackpot triggers. One such example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,297,059 to Vancura et al., which describes a system that determines a fractional portion of a progressive jackpot to be awarded when a jackpot trigger occurs. The fractional portion that is awarded is based on the size of a wager; however, the probability of winning the progressive jackpot may be different at different gaming stations.
Another example of a conventional progressive jackpot system that links multiple gaming stations configured to host different wagering games with different jackpot win probabilities is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,515 to Pease et al., which describes randomly selecting a gaming station to participate in the progressive jackpot. If a group that the selected gaming station belongs to has contributed a threshold amount to the progressive jackpot, then a random number generator is used to determine if a player at the selected gaming station wins the progressive jackpot. The described system, therefore, removes the jackpot trigger element from the progressive jackpot system.